THE "VAGABOND" IN COURT.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1679, 5 October 1887, Page 3

THE "VAGABOND" IN COURT.

The libel aodon brought by Mr Julfan Thomas, familiarly known bb "The Vagabond," against the " Weßleyan Spertator," bristles with intesting pom's, and raise* many ia9ue3 of greU iiif-Teat. Mr 'Ihomaa's meritß aa a raconteur are sufficiently well known to us. Ho i 3 always lively, and sometimes accurate ; and ha lov s an epigram so much that he would probably sacrifice his beßt friend to it. Mr Thomas found himself on oue occasion m Fji, and unfortunately felt himself ciiled to dlarasa the character and re gigious history of Kia^ Thakambau. Thakambau haßbeon deaoribed as a Fijian edition of Oonßtantloe the Great, and he w.is certdnly a man of great natural powers. The Weßleyan missionaries fourd him a most bloodthirsty and cruel savage, but, under the irfUenco of Chrlotlanlty, he renounced heathenism, developed a really fine type of morality, and did much to plaut Christianity and civilisation amongst hia people. He died, after many years of exemplary life, a happy Christian death. Tho Wesleyan missionaries were naturally proud of their convert, and the revolution wrought m oannlbal Fiji is really one of the marvels of raodetn Christian history. The proof of the moral transformation of these eavage tribes ia not rrerely to bo fou:id m missionary report?; it is attested by English travellers like Miss Gordon Cu '.riming and English offioials like Sir Arthur Gordon. "The Vrgabond," It need scarcely be said, calmly Ignored the loftier side of Fijian history and of missionary work For him, l£<ng Thakambau, the cannibal warrior, strangely transfigured Into a Me'hodiat paint, wag bat & peg on which to hang a jest ; and ho proceeded to grind op the dead man's bones and tarn them Into epigrams. "King Thnkamhau," he Bald, " became nn exemplary Christian when he had 1< at hia teeth and hia digestion ;' {and he die 3 "m the odour of sanctity and of a dirty blanket." The 1 Wesleyan Spectator ' was unable to discover the humor of this remarkable pleasantry. Mr Thomas's joke not only implied that King Thakambau's conversion was a fraud, but that all the Wesleyan missionaries were, more or leas, directly parties to the fraud, since they had for many years, held up the excannibal as an example of Christian re generation. The " Wesleyan Spectator " discovered much more of mendacity than of humor In Mr Thomaa'a pleasantry, and said so m very plala English. Mr J. Thomas, who, ia hie a^al for epigrammatic terseness, wai not over concerned about a dead nvni'a charactor, has'orted to the Supreme O.mrt to demvio 1 £2,000 by way of Bolacft to tho wi v d tin " Wes'cyan ' Spectator" t,ad infl tred on his < wu la-o-rated feelinen. It was proved beyond dcubt— quantum mleal — that K'..:g Thak am bau possessed most enviable powers both of mastication and digeaiion long after he had embraced Chriaianiiy, and it was also abnndtiutiy provnd .that ihis e x-savage developed uader Chrubau it fl.iouca a very genuine motal.t?. Mr Holiday, for example, who acted as Grown solicitor to 1 the Government' of Fiji, -gave ample testimony on this pointy fie had aeon this ex-cannibal teaohing little children iv a Sunday aohool ; he had known '■ instances where he had refused to exerciae [ a legal right when it involved tha denial L of a moral obligation. When a client ' succeeds m Impressing his solicitor with 1 the genuinenobs of hia religion, doubt on 1 the part of anybody chebecomea abaurd. 1 Mr Fison's evidence as to tho manner In which tbla converged eavage died— hia 1 prayers, hlo. uttjera.noeß of religious confix ' den Of), etc— constituted a most touching 5 and striking picture, t Toe question at Issue m tho recent libel suit waa not the relatively small matter of Mi Julian Thomas's veracity, but the Urge and grave Issue of the reality of , Ohristian mission work. It la satisfactory ,' that tbla emerges from the strife quite . undamaged, and even made clearer and- ' more authoritative) than ever. Aa for Mr 'I'homaa, another such legal victory would simply ruin him. He has bteu charged with very comprehensive unveaoity ; the I " Wesleyan Spectator," having made this ' charge, courageously pleaded justification; Mr Thomas did not venture to eater tho witness-box m his own behalf ; aud the " jury awarded him, by way of "damages," ' the very smallest coin' In the realm. — \ "Telegraph.";